Monday, November 19, 2012

New logo: ITV

First launched in London in 1955, and eventually expanding into a network covering the entire country, ITV is the oldest and most watched commercial TV channel in the United Kingdom. Through the years it has been the home of countless productions that we associate with the best of British television. It was originally made up of separate companies that were broadcasting under different names to different parts of the country, most of them have now merged into a single company covering all of England and Wales. Since 2002, the local names have been phased out and replaced by the ITV1 moniker.

After announcing that it would drop the numeral from the network's name to become simply ITV, a new brand identity was unveiled last week, on November 15. It was developed by an in-house team, headed by people poached from other broadcasters and agencies.

The new logo is flexible one, changing colour depending on its surroundings. The version seen above is how it will look when not accompanied with imagery.

The new look launches in January. ITV also has a string of spin-off channels, and the overhaul will be extended to them at the same time. Reportedly, ITV2, the entertainment channel, will be red, the drama channel ITV3 will be blue, while the male-skewing ITV4 with cult classics and sports becomes "slate grey".

Outgoing corporate ITV logo.

ITV last launched major rebranding effort in January 2006, which involved the logo that is now being replaced. Red Bee Media was the agency behind the 2006 look.

Outgoing ITV1 logo.

This is just a quick mention of the new identity, many others have already written plenty more about it. I'd recommend DesignWeek, Digital Spy and The Guardian, all of whom also have examples of the logo "in use".